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Cantopop singer Tommy Yuen in court accused of ‘incitement’ under security law

Editor3 years ago07 mins

Hong Kong police on Tuesday charged Cantopop singer and activist Tommy Yuen with “inciting hatred against the government” and “fraud” after he spoke out on social media against COVID-19 restrictions, and tried to raise money to assist a 19-year-old woman accused of “rioting.” Yuen, 41, appeared in court on Tuesday after police froze some H.K.$140,000 of his assets, charged with one count of “one or more acts of incitement” and one count of “fraud.” He had no defense lawyer present, and confirmed that he had withdrawn his application for legal aid, and would hire a private attorney instead. Yuen appeared in court with hair grown out to shoulder length, wearing a blue denim jacket, in apparently good spirits, waving to onlookers at the end of the hearing. He made no bail application, and will be remanded in custody until July 26. The charges against Yuen are based on posts he made to Facebook and Instagram between Sept. 26, 2021 and Jan. 21, 2022, which the prosecution alleged were “intended to provoke hatred or contempt for the government … or cause resentment or rebellion among Hong Kong residents.” He is also accused of using fraudulent means to raise funds for a 19-year-old defendant charged with “rioting,” a charge often used to target those present during the 2019 protest movement, or even its absent supporters. Meanwhile, secondary schools in Hong Kong are removing books deemed in breach of the national security law, the city’s Ming Pao newspaper reported. A list of books removed from the shelves of three school libraries obtained by the paper showed that more than 200 titles have disappeared from libraries because of fears they could breach the law. Targeting books Education bureau director Kevin Yeung said schools are responsible for ensuring that they don’t break the law. “Books are as important as textbooks and can influence the minds of young students,” Yeung told reporters. “The choice of books isn’t the sole responsibility of librarians; subject director, and even principals — the whole school — needs to get involved in this work,” he said. Bao Pu, publisher of the memoirs of late ousted premier Zhao Ziyang, one of the books on the list, said the book has little to do with national security. “When this book was published, I didn’t think it violated the laws of Hong Kong, nor did I think this book had anything to do with China’s national security,” Bao told RFA. “I believe that the books I published were all beneficial to readers and to China,” he said. But he added: “How they choose to self-censor is not my business and has nothing to do with me.” Bookburning Sociologist Chung Kim-wah described the removal of books as the modern version of book-burning. “The government doesn’t dare to actually draw up a list of banned books, so they are leaving the schools, teachers and library staff to try to guess what their superiors would think about them,” Chung told RFA. “This means that any works that might be regarded as objectionable or unfriendly by the government will be removed from the shelves,” he said. “It’s the safest way of controlling them, through intimidation,” he said. “It’s no different from burning books … it’s basically about control over the freedom of speech and expression.” Under guidelines published by the Education Bureau in February, schools are required to “establish/ strengthen the monitoring mechanism for regular review of learning and teaching resources (including their content and quality).” “Schools should ensure that the display of words or objects within the campus (including school buildings, classrooms and bulletin boards, etc.), such as books (including library collections), publications and leaflets does not involve contents that endanger national security,” the guidelines state. “Schools should also prohibit anyone from bringing objects to schools in contravention of the rules.” The national security law criminalizes speech and actions deemed to amount to secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign powers, and enabled the setting up of a national security office under the direct control of Beijing to oversee the implementation of the law, as well as a Hong Kong headquarters for China’s feared state security police, to handle “special cases” deemed important by Beijing. It also bans speech or actions anywhere in the world deemed to incite hatred or dissatisfaction with the CCP or the Hong Kong government. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Turning to folk remedies

Editor3 years ago01 mins

North Korea has declared a “maximum emergency” after acknowledging that COVID-19 is spreading among its population. With the capital Pyongyang monopolizing the country’s limited medical supplies, rural citizens are turning to alternatives, including unproven traditional remedies such as dried deer blood, to cope with the pandemic.

Tank cake influencer Austin Li ‘set up’ by his enemies: business associate

Editor3 years ago07 mins

Beauty influencer Austin Li, part of a generation of younger Chinese people who know little of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre, may have been set up by a rival when he displayed a tank-shaped ice-cream dessert on his livestream, prompting censors to pull the plug immediately, RFA has learned. Li’s livestream was taken off air on Jun. 3 shortly after he showed an ice-cream dessert in the shape of a tank, one day ahead of the 33rd anniversary of the crackdown. Public commemorations of the massacre are banned in China. But a close business associate of Li’s, Sun Mei, said the young man was raised in an era where nobody mentioned the massacre. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says the mass protests of 1989 were a “counterrevolutionary rebellion” and that then supreme leader Deng Xiaoping was justified in sending in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to mow down unarmed civilians with guns and tanks. Online references to the events of June 4, 1989, including images of tanks, are swiftly deleted by government censors. “He’s not doing too well right now,” Sun told RFA. “He has offended a lot of people, some of whom were looking to mess with him. He was set up.” Sun dismissed online rumors that Li is being held by the authorities for tax evasion. “Li Jiaqi paid off his taxes; he paid out a lot of money — far too much, but he wanted to buy peace, and the tax evasion incident is over,” he said. Unaware of history Sun described Li as a loyal patriot who “usually responds to directions from the CCP very well,” expecting to be protected in return. “His office resembles a party-building operation, and he has had a lot of interaction with the district and municipal party committees,” he said. So, how did a loyal party follower come to display the controversial tank dessert on his live show? Sun said Li’s generation lacks exposure to his country’s own recent history. “He is a victim of the information blackout [around that topic] because … he is very young,” he said. “He has a lot of fans … now everyone is talking about what happened on June 4, 1989, and more and more people are coming to know about it.” Sun said some 100 million fans may already have heard of the Tiananmen massacre, but plenty more were now likely planning to find out about it as a direct result of Li’s tank dessert debacle. Settling ‘old and new scores’ Meanwhile, authorities in the eastern province of Zhejiang have detained a former leader of the 1989 protest movement at Hangzhou University on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” after he protested the confiscation of his mobile phone by police. Xu Guang was detained on suspicion of the charge, which is frequently used to target peaceful critics of the CCP, by the Xihu branch of the Hangzhou police department last week, fellow dissident Zou Wei told RFA. “The Xihu district state security police and officers from Yuquan police station came to his door and told him not to go out or make comments online around June 4,” Zou said. “Then they took Xu Guang’s two mobile phones away. The next day, Xu Guang went to Yuquan police station to get his phone back, but the police refused to give it back,” he said. Xu, 54, went to complain in person but was detained when he showed up at the police station. “The state security police told Xu Guang that … this time he would get a heavy sentence, because old and new scores were being settled all at once,” Zou said. “All we know is that Xu has been on hunger strike since his arrest, but we don’t know the specific details.” Xu has previously served a five-year jail term after trying to formally register the China Democracy Party (CDP) as a political party in 1998, and has repeatedly called on the CCP to overturn the official verdict on the 1989 protests. He is currently being held in the Xihu Detention Center. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

COVID test scandal topples two Vietnam Communist Party high officials

Editor3 years ago011 mins

It’s always a sign when the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) calls for an emergency session of its Central Committee. Following a late May report by the Central Inspection Discipline Commission that detailed the wrong doing and bribe taking by the country’s Minister of Health and the Chairman of the Hanoi Party Committee, the Central Committee voted to expel the two men from the communist party. A third individual, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, but not a member of the Central Committee, was also expelled from the party. Expulsion from the party is in itself a major deal. Party investigators have four levels of discipline: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion. No longer protected by their elite party status, their legal jeopardy just went up a few notches. Now that the party’s inspection has concluded, they will now be passed on the prosecutors for trial and an almost certain conviction. While the investigation of Central Committee members is not unheard of (indeed two members of the 12th Politburo were expelled), this is an incredibly elite body of 180 members and 20 alternate members in a country of 100 million people. So what was the scandal about? This was no run of the mill corruption scandal involving payments to regulators or misuse of public funds. This was a through, year-long investigation, a sign of how importantly the VCP is taking the scandal. One has to recall that in the first year of the pandemic, Vietnam was the international gold standard or response. They sealed their borders, imposed quarantines, waged a public health campaign, and rallied the population. But Vietnam soon faltered. The Delta and Omicron variants hit the country hard. Vietnam had been so successful in containing the virus that they failed to secure vaccines. Vietnam tried to develop four separate vaccines rather than concentrating its efforts on one or partnering with foreign firms. And following the 13th Party Congress in January 2021, a new leadership team was slow to find its footing. By May 2021, Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic engine was in lockdown. In February 2020, the elite Military Academy of Medicine and Viet-A received an $830,000 grant for a pilot project to produce. In a significant breakthrough, they developed an effective, accurate, and cost-effective test within a month and then quickly moved into commercial production. The Ministry of Health authorized the purchase of the kits at $21 apiece. But then the dodginess began. In April 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced that the World Health Organizations had authorized the Viet-A test kit, with the expectation of massive sales overseas. Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong publicly awarded the company with a medal for its achievements in March 2021. Not only did the WHO not recognize the Viet-A test, they rejected it. That should have set off some alarm bells, but Viet-A made up for the loss of overseas sales by inflating the price at home. A 45 percent markup netted the firm some $175 million. Calls for investigations mounted in the latter half of 2021. And perhaps with the walls closing in, the company’s Chairman, Phan Quoc Viet, increased the bribes and kickbacks. By the time of his arrest in December 2021, he acknowledged paying bribes of over VND500 billion, roughly $22 million. His arrest was just the beginning: 21 people have been investigated and VND1.6 trillion in assets were seized. In March 2022, two senior colonels from the Military Medical Academy were arrested. The director of the Military Medical research Institute was arrested for embezzlement and abuse of power, while the head of the Equipment and Supplies Department was investigated for “violating regulations on bidding, causing serious consequences.” Both were expelled from the party. In April, Lieutenant-General Do Quyet, director of Vietnam Military Medical University and his deputy, Major General Hoang Van Luong, were investigated for their institution’s role in the scandal. In May, authorities arrested the deputy head of the price management division of the Drug Administration of Vietnam. That month, the Central Committee’s Central Inspection Committee released their report that culminated with a recommendation for disciplinary actions against the Hanoi party chief Chu Ngoc Anh, who had previously been the Minister of Science and Technology, and current Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long for their lax oversight and corruption within their ministries. A health worker waits amidst empty stools at a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccination centre for youths between the age of 12 to 17 in Hanoi, Nov. 23, 2021. Credit: AFP Does it Matter? Vietnam is a $271 billion economy, and growing quickly. Even by Vietnamese corruption scandals, the Viet-A scandal wasn’t that large. Yes, bribes were paid, but bribes are paid every day in Vietnam. But this scandal seems to have stung the leadership a little bit more. In part there was the direct link between the firm and the senior leadership. General Secretary Nguyen Pho Trong had egg on his face. But more importantly, Vietnam’s response to the pandemic was really quite exemplary. Even after the omicron wave rocked the country in mid-2021, they handled it well, and more importantly, had an extremely effective vaccine rollout. Vietnam’s handling of the pandemic was critical in keeping the economy humming. In 2020 as every other economy in Southeast Asia contracted, Vietnam,’s economy grew, though at a modest 2.9 percent. Growth slowed to 2.58 percent in 2021, but is set to grow rapidly in 2022. Public health is seen as essential to economic growth, especially as Vietnam seeks to benefit from decoupling from China and supply chain diversification. The scandal has also hit the vaunted Vietnam People’s Army, an institution that enjoys the highest levels of trust in the country. Vietnam has largely avoided the major kickback procurement scandals in their military modernization program that plagues many other countries. But it is far from immune to corruption. And one only has to look to Russia to see how pervasive corruption can hollow out a fighting force even after two decades of concerted…

Yangon blasts injure three people, including a child

Editor3 years ago03 mins

Two suspected bombings in Hlaing Tharyar Township’s No. 5 Ward this morning injured three people, including a child. The first blast, at around 6 a.m. in a garbage dump on Narawat Road, injured a 30-year-old man walking along the road. Hlaing Tharyar resident Ko Lwin Oo told RFA a second explosion took place while police and soldiers were investigating the first. It injured a middle-aged woman and a young child. “The first bomb blast hit the man who was walking at 6 a.m. in the morning. The second bomb exploded when the troops arrived at 7 a.m.,” he said. “A woman and a child in a house close to the blast were hit and the woman has been critically injured, wounding her left arm.” The local said the three injured were picked up immediately by an ambulance but it was still not known which hospital they were taken to. Ko Lwin Oo said he believed the child to be over 5-years-old. He said he could not tell whether the child was a boy or girl because he only saw the head and the child’s red shirt during the immediate evacuation of the injured. It is also unclear if the woman was the child’s mother or a relative. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts. Calls to a military council spokesman by RFA throughout the day went unanswered. Residents of Hlaing Tharyar Township staging street protests in March. CREDIT: RFA The suspected bombings are the second in a week. On May 31, a bomb blast near the Bar Street bus stop on Anawrahtar Road in Kyauktada Township killed a man and injured nine others. A military spokesman said the dead man was secretly carrying the bomb and was a member of a local People’s Defense Force (PDF). The shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and members of PDFs in Yangon denied carrying out last week’s bombing. They accused the military junta and military-affiliated groups of manipulating the incident to mislead the public.

Vietnam’s religious groups face state persecution, church leaders say

Editor3 years ago09 mins

Church leaders in Vietnam say freedom to practice their religion, enshrined in the Constitution, is being undermined by the 2016 Law on Belief-Religion. Their comments support U.S. claims that the law allows the government to tighten control over religious activities. The U.S. State Department’s annual report on International Religious Freedom 2021, released last week, included Vietnam on a list of countries where religious practices are being curtailed by the state. The report, by the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, found that: “Some religious leaders, particularly those representing groups that either did not request or receive official recognition or certificates of registration, reported various forms of government harassment, including physical assaults, detentions, prosecutions, monitoring, and denials of, or no response to, requests for registration and other permissions.” RFA interviewed several religious dignitaries, who agreed with the State Department’s findings. ‘“The current Law on Belief-Religion 2016 significantly controls religion,” said Catholic priest Dinh Huu Thoai of the Redemptorist Church, which has been operating in Vietnam since 1925. “Specifically, when registering or changing the place of religious activities we have trouble with the concept of ‘religious organization.’ In the regulations it requires ‘written approval of the religious organization,’ which is required by law. The definition of religious organization varies from place to place.” There are almost 7 million Catholics in Vietnam, according to Union of Catholic Asia News, making up 6.6 percent of the population. Even so, Father Dinh said the Catholic Church of Vietnam is still not considered a religious group in some parts of the country. “Some places consider parishes to be religious organizations or at least ‘affiliated religious organizations.’ They consider the registration or change of places of concentrated religious activities under the jurisdiction of the parish priest. And, if they are rigid considering only the diocese as a religious organization, they ask for the bishop’s text even if he is at the bishop’s house, not in the locality.” Unregistered religious groups ‘persecuted’ Unregistered religious groups find it even harder to navigate the religious law, Father Dinh said. “For example, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Pure Hoa Hao Buddhism, Cao Dai Chan Truyen or Protestant groups that do not accept government intervention, are persecuted in all their religious activities.” The U.S. State Department report also mentioned the Vietnamese government’s refusal to return hospitals, clinics and schools that local authorities took from the Catholic Church many years ago. When asked about this, Father Dinh said: “Properties of the Catholic Church and [other] religious orders in Vietnam have been confiscated, appropriated, borrowed by the Vietnamese communist government; borrowed but not returned. Hundreds of facilities including monasteries, schools, hospitals, orphanages, etcetera from 1954 in the North and from 1975 in the South. The owners of these establishments repeatedly demand their return in accordance with fair and civilized law, but the number of establishments returned is very small.” “There is a paradox going on today,” Father Dinh said. “The authorities give themselves the right to grant land to religious institutions, even though that land was bought by the religions themselves a long time ago, but they have to carry out procedures to return the right to use that land.” “Why doesn’t the state use its rights to give the requisitioned religious facilities back to the owner rather than letting this problem drag on without knowing when it will be settled?” Banned from traveling or meeting overseas visitors The Redemptorist priest said the U.S. State Department report is lacking in that it omits to mention the issue of freedom of movement for many religious leaders. “Some religious dignitaries, including myself, are arbitrarily banned from leaving the country. These dignitaries are not protected by the law but are arbitrarily banned by the police from leaving for an indefinite period.” “I myself have been banned from leaving the country since 2010 until now, which is almost 12 years, without any sign of them returning my passport along with my freedom of movement,” Father Dinh said. Hua Phi, a high-ranking member of the independent religious group Cao Dai Chan Truyen, said his passport was confiscated in 2014 and is yet to be reissued, making it impossible for him to go abroad to attend a religious freedom conference in Southeast Asia. Hua said all independent religious groups are restricted by the Vietnamese government in terms of their right to practice religion freely, with the government requiring groups to register in order to do so. He said even though many groups have a long history the government still makes it difficult for them to practice their religion. Many religious organizations and followers are persecuted during religious holidays, according to Hua. He said local police keep a close eye on his movements during Cao Dai religious events, making him unable to travel to some parts of the country to practice his religion. Hua said many dignitaries of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam, himself included, have been prevented from contacting foreign diplomatic missions when they come to learn about religious freedom in the region. The U.S. State Department report states that representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City regularly raise concerns about religious freedom in Vietnam with local government officials and the Communist Party of Vietnam. Father Dinh called on the international community and governments of ‘civilized countries’ to use economic leverage to put pressure on Hanoi to respect religious freedom. RFA emailed Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Government Committee for Religious Affairs with a request for comment on the U.S. report but received no response.

Taiwanese air force jet makes ‘hard landing’ in Hawaii

Editor3 years ago03 mins

In the second incident in a week, a Taiwanese air force F-16 fighter jet had to make an emergency landing in Hawaii on Monday due to landing gear problems, media reports said. Hawaii News Now said the fighter made a “hard landing” at Honolulu airport, coming to rest on its nose because “the landing gear on the aircraft didn’t deploy.” No one was injured in the incident, which happened on Monday afternoon, the news portal said. A runway was closed for hours while crews worked to move the aircraft. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has yet to provide any comment on the incident, the second related to U.S.-made F-16 aircraft this year. In mid-January an F-16V, one of the most advanced fighters in Taiwan’s possession, crashed in the sea off the west coast of the island, killing its sole pilot. The Taiwanese air force suspended F-16 combat training for over a week but resumed in late January. On May 31, an air force pilot died when his AT-3 Tzu Chung jet trainer crashed in southern Taiwan. Taiwan Air Force’s refitted F-16V jets taking off. CREDIT: CNA Upgrading the fleet The aircraft at Honolulu airport, believed to be a F-16A/B version, was en route from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona to Taiwan, the national Central News Agency (CNA) reported. Currently 10 F-16 fighters are stationed at the Arizona base for training. They are part of Taiwan’s program to upgrade 140 F-16A/B aircraft to F-16V status at a total cost of NT$110 billion or U.S. $3.72 billion. Taiwan has ordered 66 new F-16V fighter jets from the U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin for an undisclosed amount. The jets are expected to be delivered by late 2026 and will be stationed at Zhihang Air Force Base in Taitung County. In 2019, the U.S. approved the sale of U.S. $8 billion in arms to Taiwan, including the F-16Vs.

Myanmar military forcibly recruits villagers into pro-junta militias

Editor3 years ago011 mins

Myanmar’s military is sending troops to villages in war-torn Sagaing region where the armed resistance is strong and forcibly recruiting residents into pro-junta militias, according to sources in the area. Residents of Sagaing told RFA’s Burmese Service on condition of anonymity that troops have offered them money to join and train with the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia and threatened to burn down their villages if they don’t comply. A source from Kyunhla township’s Magyi Inn village wrote in a letter to RFA that one military unit visited the area last week and demanded that 30 residents join the Pyu Saw Htee. Troops said that if the recruits didn’t show up for training within a few days, they would return and torch the entire tract. RFA attempted to confirm the incident with residents of the village by phone, but they refused to comment, citing fear of reprisal. A resident of Taze township told RFA that troops recently armed villagers in the area and paid them to recruit others in the fight against pro-democracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries. “Pyu Saw Htee groups have been set up in many villages of Kanbalu and Taze townships, as well as those in the Mu River valley,” he said. “In those villages, people joined them because they were paid and provided weapons. When they were sent elsewhere, they acted abusively because they had received armed training. In some places, they ended up extorting money from people and now are more like bandits.” RFA was unable to independently confirm the resident’s claim that villagers were being paid to join the Pyu Saw Htee. Residents of Taze told RFA that there are “about 400 Pyu Saw Htee fighters” based in the eastern part of their township and neighboring Kanbalu. Around 500 homes in Taze’s Ywah Shay village were set on fire by a joint force of military troops and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen on June 1, they said, although it was not immediately clear whether the arson was connected to a recruitment campaign. An aerial view of Chaung Oo village, in Sagaing region’s Pale township, where junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee fighters burned more than 300 homes, Dec. 18, 2021. Credit: RFA Targeting two regions Data for Myanmar, a research group that studies the impact of conflict on communities, also said the burning of villages in Sagaing and neighboring Magway region are the work of the military and Pyu Saw Htee. More than 11,400 homes have been destroyed in the regions since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup, the group said. Residents in Sagaing and Magway regions claim that the military pays Pyu Saw Htee members 7,000 kyats (U.S. $4) a day. A spokesman for the PDF in Magway’s Yezagyo township told RFA that the military is using Pyu Saw Htee units “to oppress the people.” “To say it bluntly, Pyu Saw Htees are asked to do the dirty work because the military doesn’t want their name tarnished,” he said. “These Pyu Saw Htees are mostly supporters of the military. They are given training and armed and are sent to the head of troop columns. It’s dangerous. In other words, they are being used as human shields.” A resident of Sagaing, who also declined to be named, told RFA that he had seen Pyu Saw Htees carrying military-grade weaponry, including automatic rifles and carbines and even grenade launchers. Asked about the reports, junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told RFA last week that there “are no such thing” as Pyu Saw Htees and claimed the military is forming militia groups so that residents can protect their own villages from the PDF, which the military has labeled a terrorist group. “If there is a real need, we will provide training first. During the training, they learned how to shoot,” he said. “But it is not just a matter of armed training. There are duties and responsibilities to be assumed. There are rules to be followed, just like a soldier does. We are working for peace in the community in a systematic way.” He did not comment on allegations that members of the Pyu Saw Htee are paid by the military. Forming a proxy force After the military coup, Pyu Saw Htee militias were formed in villages which formerly supported the military and the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Observers say the Pyu Saw Htee act as a proxy force for the military and are responsible for some of the junta’s worst abuses against civilians, including looting and arson, arbitrary arrests, torture, and execution. RFA documented at least 74 civilian deaths linked to pro-military groups such as the Pyu Saw Htee in Myanmar in May alone. USDP spokesman Nanda Hla Myint has told RFA that although party members had not been instructed to take up arms against the opposition, the party leadership will not stop them from doing so. Zaw Zaw, a resident of Sagaing’s Pale township said that although not every USDP member is Pyu Saw Htee, Pyu Saw Htee units are mainly comprised of USDP members. “Some of them, mostly hardliners, go to Pyu Saw Htee training. In some villages, people who were accused as ‘Dalans’ (military informers) flee and join them,” he said. “These kinds of people have been involved in election campaigns for years. They are not actually USDP members but most of them are very supportive of the USDP.” Min Zaw Oo, executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS), said the formation of proxy armed groups like the Pyu Saw Htee is a military strategy with a long history in the country. “It seems junta leaders were hesitant in the beginning, as they weren’t sure whether they could trust the villagers not to turn against them when they were given weapons,” he said. “In the beginning, there were no guns, but later – especially in 2022 – more groups were armed.” According to a recent report by the Institute for Strategic…

North Korea imposed ‘loyalty funds’ on trade officials in China amid missile tests

Editor3 years ago06 mins

North Korea ordered trade officials stationed in China to pay U.S. $3,000 in so-called “loyalty funds” by the end of July, which some sources in China said was likely an effort to offset at least part of cost for ballistic missile tests over the weekend. The China-based trade officials are tasked with doing business with Chinese partners to earn foreign cash for their government, in some cases for leader Kim Jong Un’s personal slush fund. Occasionally the government will demand that they pay funds in addition to what their businesses earn for the government, effectively cutting into their own earnings. The call for loyalty funds usually coincides with important events, a North Korean trade official in the Chinese city of Dalian, in the northeastern province of Liaoning, told RFA’s Korean Service Monday on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “This is the third time the authorities have imposed a loyalty fund on us this year. The first and second time, though, trade had been partially open, so we could at least pay half of the fund,” the source said. “This time it is not easy because China is on complete lockdown due to the coronavirus,” said the source.” The North Korean economy is in shambles, partially because of the closure of the Sino-Korean border and the suspension of trade for essentially the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year rail freight resumed, but it was quickly shut down due to new outbreaks of COVID-19 in China. With no trade, it is difficult for the officials sent overseas to pay their loyalty funds, and they have come to resent it, the official in Dalian said. “Trade officials are indignant that they keep imposing loyalty funds. We know through the internet that yesterday, once again, they tested ballistic missiles, this time eight from four locations,” said the source. “We are well aware that tens of millions of dollars are spent to launch a single missile. But how many ballistic missiles have been launched this year? I can’t quite understand the behavior of the authorities, who waste foreign currency on missile launches and forcibly impose loyalty funds on us.” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the eight missiles were fired from four locations, including the Sunan area of Pyongyang into the sea east of the Korean peninsula. RFA sources estimate that North Korea has sent around 1,000 trade officials to China, meaning that the loyalty funds imposed this time should bring in around $3 million, far less than the estimated cost of Sunday’s missile test. Another trade official in Donggang, a port located close to the North Korean-Chinese maritime border, told RFA that the last time the government imposed loyalty funds, it was for a military parade in Pyongyang. That event later forced the government to acknowledge the virus after fever cases began to erupt among parade participants after they returned to their homes. “Trade officials cannot disobey orders from Pyongyang, so some of us have had to borrow money from our Chinese counterparts to contribute last time,” the second source said. “Because of that parade they ended up blocking train and maritime trade again, leaving us in debt. The complaints are pouring in because they are asking us to pay loyalty funds again,” the second source said. “They are squeezing more money out of us and wasting it on missile launches.” Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Cambodia’s Candlelight Party says commune election marred by widespread fraud

Editor3 years ago010 mins

Nationwide elections for local councils were marred by fraud and irregularities, Cambodia’s opposition Candlelight Party said Monday while ruling out a formal protest against what the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed was a sweeping victory. Though official returns from Sunday’s polls are scheduled for release on June 26, a statement issued by the National Election Committee (NEC) on Monday said the CPP received 5.3 million popular votes to win 9,338 out of the 11,622 commune council seats that were contested. The Candlelight Party received 1.6 million votes, winning 2,180 seats, with other parties taking up the remainder of votes and seats. Candlelight Party candidates and election observers said they were the victims of harassment and intimidation before and during the voting, and that the NEC, a purportedly independent agency that supervises elections in Cambodia, failed to take action to stop it. Nearly all polling stations across the country were closed and locked after 3 p.m., and officials prevented observers from monitoring the counting of votes at polling stations, they said. In some cases, election officials did not allow the counting of ballots at polling stations after they closed, but instead gave local authorities and representatives from CPP observer organizations access to them, they said. The Candlelight Party said the abuses amounted to vote-rigging. The party does not believe the results reflect the will of the people, but will not protest the returns, said Son Chhay, Candlelight’s vice president. “We have no plans to demonstrate, but we want to make our concern or the concern of the electorate heard about the irregularities that affect their will, and we ask for improvement,” he said at a press conference. NEC spokesman Hang Puthea disputed the Candlelight Party’s contention, saying the election process went smoothly and the results can be trusted. “Acceptance or disapproval does not depend on the political language of any political party,” he said. “On the contrary, many parties and national and international observers have expressed their appreciation for the management of the election process.” But Hang Puthea added that the NEC would accept all recommendations that yield better elections in the future. RFA could not reach CPP spokesman Sok Eysan for comment on Monday. On Sunday night he had called the election the “best one” ever without elaborating. “Pattern of threats’ Several observers though had noted heavy-handed tactics by the ruling CPP in the run-up to Sunday’s vote. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its concern over a pattern of intimidation and the arrest and imprisonment of some opposition party candidates. At least six Candlelight Party candidates and activists had been arrested and jailed before and during election campaigning. “We are disturbed by the pattern of threats, intimidation and obstruction targeting opposition candidates ahead of communal elections in Cambodia on 5 June,” office spokesperson Liz Throssell said in a statement Friday. The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) also registered its concerns with the election campaign, especially the persecution of Candlelight Party candidates. APHR member Maria Chin Abdullah, a Malaysian lawmaker, said it was impossible to hold free and fair elections in an environment where opposition politicians are persecuted. Political commentator Meas Nee, who visited a number of polling stations, told RFA that while he didn’t see any violence at polling stations there were other signs of voter intimidation. “But village and commune chiefs were present at the polling stations and were there to record the names of people who came to vote,” he said. “This could be interpreted in a way that conveys if you don’t vote for me, you will have problems.” Voters, many of whom are struggling with inflation after two years of economic hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, expressed disappointment with the results. “My vote is meaningful for my life, but I’m so frustrated because the result showed the opposite of my expectation,” Kim Channara, 49, who works at the Chea Sinath Garment Factory Worker in Phnom Penh, told RFA on Monday. Khuth Sokha, 42, president of the garment factory, said she was disappointed by the outcome and noted that just before the elections, CPP authorities distributed 20,000 riels (U.S. $5) and a krama, or scarf, to each citizen. “The government has in power for so long and has not made any substantial progress,” Khuth Sokha said. “Land disputes are widespread, so I want to see a change of new leaders who might make the situation better.” ‘Time to fulfill promises’ Kata On, spokesman for the government’s Human Rights Commission, said the election results must be respected. “The Cambodian People’s Party works for the interest of the people. We, the CPP, are of the people, by the people, and for the people.” For several voters, working for the people means controlling inflation in country. Chheang Sinath, a tourist tuk-tuk driver in Phnom Penh, told RFA that high gasoline and food prices in Cambodia have hurt his ability to earn a living and pay his bills. “We know that the result is that the Cambodian People’s Party won the commune elections, so please consider solving the high price of gasoline for us,” he said. “Nowadays, living is so difficult.” RFA could not reach Ministry of Commerce spokesmen Seang Thai and Long Kemvichet for comment. Vorn Pov, president of the Independent Association of Informal Economy, a union that represents tuk-tuk drivers and other service economy workers, said it members are becoming poorer amid the price increases. Once again, it’s the CPP’s responsibility to solve the problem, he said. “We see that the government, especially the ruling party, has won a landslide victory in thousands of communes, so it should be time to fulfill its promises made during the election campaign,” Vorn Pov said. Translated by Sum Sok Ry for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Category: World